By any standards, Dakota Suite have hit a rich vein of creativity. This is their second release of 2011, with at least one more to follow before year’s end.
Whereas January’s North Green Down was a classical piece, The Hearts of Empty leans more in the direction of jazz. Though Chris Hooson was involved in the compositions, the performances here are largely the work of collaborator David Buxton.
The album opens with the off-kilter cello strums of Easy Steps, adding piano and percussion in Catalunya. The title track is dominated by a jazz-tinged piano, sounding very loose and relaxed.
Later ambient electronics creep in on tracks like the very-Eno like The Ladder, M-Theory and Legend of the Skies. The jazz piano returns on the loaded-with-regret Underpowered and Vermont Canyon Road, underpinned by some keyboards holding it all together, while on The Black Pyramid you can almost hear the glasses clinking in some imaginary 40s bar or other.
It’s all very tastefully done, performances are generally restrained with no instruments taking over and no obtrusive brass. Although there have been elements of jazz in Dakota Suite’s previous work, this is their first fully-fledged jazz album, creating a kind of café feel. Without the jazz Woodbines.
By Killian Laher.
Track listing:
01 – Easy Steps
02 – Cataluna
03 – Namiko
04 – The Hearts Of Empty
05 – How To Stop A Moving Body
06 – The Ladder
07 – Eskimo Nebula
08 – M-Theory
09 – Underpowered
10 – Vermont Canyon Road
11 – Congruences
12 – The Black Pyramid
13 – Legend Of The Skies
14 – The Basin
